I really thought I would find the answer on the internet but finally ... Not so much.
I modeled furniture (for a boat) using solidworks, so they are assemblies, composed of parts, or even sub-assembly and I now have to move on to phase 2: flattening everything to make a layout for sending to the CNC cut.
To be honest, I don't even know where to start. A new configuration? But the constraints prevent me from putting my part "flat".
Has anyone ever had to do this? (surely), in which case could he give me a solution?
If they are parts to unfold, then it's sheet metal, it's a shame not to have modeled them with the sheet metal module which gives the tools to do the unfolding (and therefore automatically do what vspemens proposes).
Hello, hum I wouldn't judge I was doing the same when I started! but still one who goes for it and then wonders how to do it! :) Next time, think about what you want in the end and how you have to get it! Like the others I would say that since you were going to make sheet metal, it would have been better to use the TOLERIE mode! Otherwise apart from fiddling with to have the parts flat.... knowing that if later you modify your parts, it will soon be BAGHDAD... The best, but by far the longest, would be to redo your parts in sheet metal...
Without wanting to offend anyone, I never talked about metal parts. I make wooden furniture with cleat assemblies and I want to send it to a subcontractor who will cut it on CP panels.
hi =) if it's wood the best would be to ask your supplier the dimensions of these panels and the thickness of his cutting tool then make an assembly of your parts (with the cutting tool gaps) so that it uses the maximum surface area per panel
In fact, in order not to have a problem with the existing constraints in the "default" config and to be able to flatten the part, you have to remove the constraints in the new assembly. Then you have to add "coincidental" constraints with one of the basic planes, which goes very quickly with the "multiple constraint mode"
On the other hand, when I go back to the "default" config there are conflicts between the constraints (the new ones for flattening and the old ones for positioning parts between them), so I have to delete the constraints I created again. Is there a way to say "do not apply the new constraints to configs other than the one enabled"?
So that the subcontractor has all the information, you just have to send him the WWTP of the cabinet and he will already manage... We also receive and send the WWTP for the ball...
When he talks about flattening, he just wants to have for example his furniture upright in side view to see all the holes in trunnions, studs, cleats, grooves etc...
Do you do everything in a hurry? No edge drillings or anything else?
@ AC Cobra 427 Yes but the subcontractor will invoice us for the time he will spend making the layout, and he will necessarily spend more time on it than me who already knows the wood species of the veneers and the thicknesses of the parts. For him it's all beneficial if he receives a dxf he sends it directly to his machine and has nothing to do and we it costs us (much) less.
@ stefbeno yes that's it, I have to make the layout of my furniture. Otherwise yes your idea of making another assembly with the "flat" configurations of the subassemblies seems more relevant to me than making a configuration grouping the "flat" configurations. I'm going to start with that.
@ Bart☺ yes, the backgrounds are slipped into grooves, and we also do some edge drilling, but it's more marginal because the screws must not appear on the visible facades. So it's basically cleats with positioning grooves on the parts, plus pointing of the hinge screws, push lock, drawer slide etc ...
You're sure because I have my best friend who is a carpenter and cabinetmaker and loads the 3d into his machine and fine-tunes the program and it's ok...
There is software for layout. Your supplier may be equipped with it and would therefore spend much less time than you to do it.
For the laser, we provide a dxf of each part with the thickness, the material, the direction of brushing (or the wire for wood).
And whether you cut internally or externally , laser cutting is equipped with automatic layout software according to the characteristics mentioned above , it takes very little time while carrying out an assembly is even...
The best thing to do is to see with your subcontractor what he can do and how.
@ ac cobra 427 I will admit that I don't really know how the "real" carpenters do it. But - apart from the fact that he asks me for a DXF already notebooked - if I send him a WWTP, he has no way of knowing the species and the grain of the wood? even if I can understand that a software can compare the thicknesses of the parts.
@ Bart☺ I don't really know why we favor cleats over studs + eccentric in the furniture of a boat. A question of cost? Or maybe the thickness of the panel, my thickest panels are 15mm, but the biggest is 12mm, does the ecentric fit in this thickness?